The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said the real issue was Russian oligarchs funding the Tory party.
Photograph: Sean Smith for the Guardian

John McDonnell has compared claims by the Sunday Times that Russian Twitter bots tried to win the general election for Labour to “smears” against Neil Kinnock before the 1992 general election.

The shadow chancellor said the story was “ludicrous” and criticised the “Conservative-supporting” newspaper for running past stories linking Labour to Russia in an effort to stop Kinnock from becoming prime minister.

According to an investigation by the Sunday Times and Swansea University, about 6,500 suspect accounts pumped out pro-Corbyn messages and attacked the Conservatives in the run-up to last June’s vote.

The study claimed that 80% of the accounts were created in the weeks before polling day, and were used to target voters with key political messages during vital points in the campaign, including the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing.

McDonnell told Sky News: “This is ludicrous. This is the thing they accused [former Labour leader] Neil Kinnock of during the general election.

“If I remember rightly, the Russian embassy was putting out supportive noises towards the Tory party. If there’s an issue here about anything on Russian influence within our society, it’s about Russian oligarchs funding the Tory party. Let’s have an inquiry into that.”

McDonnell urged the Conservatives to back Labour’s amendments when anti-money laundering legislation comes to the House of Commons next week.

He said the proposed changes – which could reportedly win the backing of up to 19 Tory rebels – would “tackle this dirty money coming through the City of London and winding up in our economy”.

“This Sunday Times story – a Conservative-supporting newspaper – [is] farcical. They tried it in 1992 on Neil Kinnock. They’re doing it again just before an election this time.”

Shortly before the 1992 general election, the paper ran a front-page story about conversations between Neil Kinnock, the then Labour leader, and Soviet diplomats in London.

The article consisted of accounts of meetings between Viktor Popov, the Soviet ambassador, and Kinnock during the miners’ strike and cruise missile controversy.

Historians claimed there was nothing peculiar in a Labour leader speaking with the Soviet ambassador and the story was dismissed by Labour as a pre-election smear.

The culture secretary, Matt Hancock, described the findings as “extremely concerning”.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for any nation to attempt to interfere in the democratic elections of another country,” he told the Sunday Times.

Twitter admits far more Russian bots posted on election than it had disclosed

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“The social media companies need to act to safeguard our democratic discourse and reveal what they know.”

The report comes at a time when Corbyn has been attacked over what critics say is his unwillingness to criticise Russia over the Salisbury nerve agent attack and the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

However, a Labour party spokesman said the Russians had actually appeared to favour the Conservatives – not Labour – in last year’s election.

“The Russian government made clear its support for the Conservative party in the 2017 UK general election, with the Russian embassy in London promoting their ideological ‘convergence’ and Theresa May’s ‘strong and stable’ slogan on Twitter,” the spokesman said.